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  • Mexico, Italy and others see up to two more months of heat stress than in the 1970s, study says


    Mexico, Kenya, Italy and other nations around the world are experiencing one to two more months of heat stress than they were several decades ago, new research published Monday says, and some areas even more so. Regions previously untouched by heat stress are now feeling it, too.

    Extreme feels-like temperatures, heat stress days and tropical nights have all become dramatically more frequent, long and severe over the past six decades as the planet’s warming intensifies — a result of the burning of fossil fuels coal, oil and gas — according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday.

    The researchers went beyond just temperature, which is frequently studied, and used feels-like temperatures, to understand more of the impact on people. They assessed heat stress on individual humans, influenced by temperature, humidity, wind speed and more. They used what’s called the Universal Thermal Climate Index to analyze those factors and model the human body’s response to the environment.

    The combination of heat and humidity can be dangerous for humans, because humidity impacts how sweat evaporates, and that’s a cooling mechanism. Heat waves that are humid can be more fatal than dry heat waves as humans don’t cool down as easily.

    Heat stress is worsening in already-warm regions, and beyond

    Past studies have looked at the extent to which human-driven climate change has sent temperatures soaring, especially in recent years. One study says people globally suffered an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat in 2024. Some research says that the world is on track to add nearly two months of superhot days each year by the end of the century.

    Here, researchers looked at heat stress at three levels: strong (index temperatures of greater than or equal to 32 degrees Celsius, or 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit); very strong (index temperatures of greater than or equal to 38 degrees Celsius, or 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit); and extreme (index temperatures of greater than or equal to 46 degrees Celsius, or 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

    Places that might see around 50 more days per year of at least strong heat stress compared with the 1970s include parts of Southern Africa, such as in Namibia and Angola; Eastern Africa, including parts of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda; and parts of Mexico and Central America.

    In Southern Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey, some areas will see up to 40 additional days with strong heat stress compared with the 1970s. Much of Southern Europe is seeing almost a full month of additional strong heat stress days from decades ago.

    In the U.S., much of the country sees 15 or more days of at least strong heat stress, and southern parts, including Texas and Florida, are seeing close to 25 or more days with very strong heat stress.

    Those heat stress seasons are also lasting longer.

    The study’s lead author Rebecca Emerton, also a senior scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in the United Kingdom, said it was striking “to see heat stress not only intensifying in those places that we already consider as being hot or used to experiencing heat waves … but also to see this, we call it, expanding footprint of heat stress expanding into regions where it’s historically been rare or non-existent.”

    According to the study, the feels-like temperatures on the ten warmest nights of each year have also increased faster — 0.32 degrees Celsius (0.58 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade — than the ten warmest days, 0.27 degrees Celsius (0.49 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade.

    For tropical nights, the researchers considered minimum temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). This means people might not be recovering properly from daytime heat in the overnight hours.

    And now, one billion more people face at least one day of extreme heat stress each year than they did in the 1970s.

    The future impact depends on action

    The world has known that adding heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests will warm the globe, said Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center on Cape Cod, who was not involved in the research.

    “This study adds stark details about increasing dangers to billions of humans,” Francis said. “This analysis shows not only is temperature rising, but so is humidity, which makes high temperatures more deadly because our body’s air conditioning system — sweating — struggles to keep up.”

    Emerton says the work highlights the urgent need to mitigate future warming and ensure adaptation strategies, heat health action plans, early warning systems and climate risk assessments are in place.

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    Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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    Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.


  • Warsh’s gamble: A quieter Federal Reserve could mean volatile markets, higher rates


    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has for decades moved steadily from a remote, opaque government agency that shared little about what it did or why to a more transparent institution willing to explain how it makes decisions and what it thinks about the economy.

    But in his first press conference last Wednesday, new chair Kevin Warsh began to reverse some of those steps. Warsh, like many economists, thinks the financial markets have become too dependent on Fed guidance, and that such direction is more effective in financial crises or economic downturns.

    Warsh’s changes to the Fed’s communications represent something of a return to former chair Alan Greenspan’s circumspect approach. Greenspan died at 100 on Monday. He is the only former chair Warsh praised at his swearing-in last month.

    As chair, Warsh has rapidly delivered on his promise to slash the Fed’s communications. He sharply cut the central bank’s post-meeting statement and underscored at the press conference the removal of the guidance it formerly gave to financial markets about the Fed’s next interest-rate moves. Yet such an approach carries the risk of more violent swings in stock and bond prices, analysts say, and ultimately could lead to higher interest rates for consumers and businesses.

    “Forward guidance in general has served to suppress volatility and anchor market expectations,” said George Pearkes, global macro strategist at Bespoke Investment Group. “And that has led to lower borrowing rates, relative to alternatives.”

    Still, the impact on consumers is likely to be modest, Pearkes added, with mortgage rates perhaps a quarter-point higher than they would be otherwise.

    Warsh may be headed back to 1990s

    Such swings could be a sign of things to come. Previous chairs have signaled the Fed’s next moves clearly enough that financial markets have largely anticipated the central bank’s actions. But Warsh appears to be following Greenspan, whose oracular comments often kept investors guessing.

    Yet Greenspan, who served as chair from 1987 to 2005, also ushered in several changes that made the Fed more transparent. He began the practice of issuing statements after each Fed meeting to announce its interest-rate decision. He also began publicly releasing the minutes of each meeting and the full transcripts, after a five-year delay, though those moves came in response to pressure from Congress.

    The first statement was issued Feb. 4, 1994, and said the Fed would increase its key rate for the first time in five years. The move caught investors off-guard and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 2.4% that day.

    The paring back of Fed communications is part of a larger package of potential reforms to the central bank’s operations that Warsh signaled Wednesday. He announced that the Fed will set up five task forces to examine the Fed’s communications, its balance sheet, how it analyzes and gathers economic data, the impact of AI on productivity and jobs, and the frameworks it uses to analyze inflation.

    Warsh said the communications task force would consider changes to the quarterly economic projections the Fed issues as well as look at other recent innovations, including press conferences. Former chair Ben Bernanke was the first to hold them, though he did so only after every other Fed meeting. Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, shifted to holding them after every meeting.

    Such steps were a sharp contrast with the 1990s, when Greenspan never explained a Fed decision, on the record, to reporters. Warsh could ultimately dial back some of the Fed’s increased transparency.

    “This is a big change in how the Fed has conducted itself since the (2008-2009) global financial crisis,” Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, said. “Since then there has been a one-way train to greater communication, more transparency, and more forward guidance. Warsh has now put that train in reverse.”

    Fed chairs have seen benefits to forward guidance

    Previous Fed chairs, starting with Bernanke, have seen a clear benefit to more communication: It helps guide the markets in the direction the Fed wants. Fed officials control a short-term interest rate, but the rates that affect the economy — such as the yield on the 10-year Treasury — are heavily influenced by investors’ expectations for inflation and economic growth. By telegraphing their next moves, policymakers can cause those longer-term rates to change even before the Fed adjusts its own benchmark rate.

    Yet Warsh’s view is that financial markets have become too dependent on Fed guidance. Instead, he wants investors to gauge where the Fed may move next by examining economic data and making their own judgments, which the Fed can then consider as part of their assessments of where the economy is headed.

    “Financial market prices are probably the most important source of information to guide central bankers,” Warsh said at Wednesday’s news conference.

    Guidance can help with unexpected events

    David Andolfatto, an economics professor at the University of Miami and former economist at the St. Louis Fed, said he agreed with Warsh that forward guidance has flaws. It can be easily upended by unexpected events, he said, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the Iran war.

    But the chair should set out guidelines for how the Fed will react to unexpected events, Andolfatto said, or to challenges such as the persistent inflation it is grappling with now, yet Warsh so far hasn’t done so.

    “I’m with him on dispensing with forward guidance, but you have to replace it with a contingency plan,” Andolfatto said. “It’s not enough to say, trust me, we’ll keep inflation at target.”

    Ironically, Warsh’s decision to drop forward guidance may empower the other 18 members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee, Pearkes said. Those officials — six members of the Fed’s governing board, plus the presidents of the 12 regional Fed banks — frequently give public speeches, and their remarks will get even more attention as financial markets seek clues about what the Fed may do next.

    A big challenge to Warsh’s approach will come if there is a sharp financial downturn or economic crisis, as occurred during the COVID pandemic. In those circumstances, economists said, forward guidance can play an important role calming markets.

    “Whether it will stand the test of time and he will behave this way for five years is a very different question, but one that we’re going to have to wait for events to unfold to get an answer to,” Pearkes said.


  • Wine brands chase Gen Z with playful tie-ins to Shark Week, NASCAR and more


    BOSTON (AP) — Which wine pairs well with Shark Week? Does a pinot noir have enough acidity to cut through the grime of a Tough Mudder race? Is a big, brassy cabernet bold enough of a quaff for a night of naming dead rodents after an ex?

    And is a wine named SEX too provocative or not provocative enough?

    Absurd as they may sound, these are the questions haunting wine marketers grappling with slumping sales and increasingly elusive drinkers. How consumers — especially younger drinkers — answer them will determine whether an industry long defined by fuddy-duddy pretense can find its footing in 2026 and beyond.

    “That self-important way that wine can refer to itself — we’re really trying to tip that on its head,” said Helen Kurtz, chief of marketing for The Wine Group, which hopes that offerings such as its easy-drinking Cupcake Vineyards wines can attract a generation that came of age on Frappuccinos and gas station BuzzBallz.

    “It’s about being less serious about ourselves, because that’s what this consumer is demanding,” she said.

    By which she means partnering the company’s MD 20/20 (yes, it’s a wine) with World Wrestling Entertainment matches (“Mad Dog Enters the Ring”), and launching the aptly named Fuel by Franzia line of boxed wine beverages for NASCAR (“Full Throttle Flavor”).

    Alcohol consumption has dropped

    It’s a fresh lesson on the importance of finding your customer rather than hoping they find you. Because almost across the board, alcohol consumption is down, a trend that accelerated post-pandemic. A host of factors is at play, including aging Boomers seeking healthier lifestyles, Gen Z’s gravitation to low- and no-alcohol beverages, and widening availability of alternatives such as marijuana.

    Each segment of the alcohol industry — valued at around $560 billion in the U.S. — is responding differently. Hard liquor, for example, has found a rare growth category in ready-to-drink canned cocktails. But the wine industry faces its own constellation of challenges, many of its own making.

    For anyone new to wine — particularly much-coveted 20-somethings — finding one’s way can be daunting, something of a Château du Stuffy effect.

    “You’ve got a bunch of things, what you might call friction points, with wine, that are particularly salient to younger consumers,” including cost and drinkability, said Christian Miller, director of research for the Wine Market Council.

    A pretentious image keeps some customers away

    Wine, from the labels to the language used to describe it, historically has leaned pricy and pretentious (looking at you, “notes of asphalt and barnyard”). Wine trends also have favored boozy and bracing styles, a hard sell for folks used to sipping hard seltzers at the club.

    Fewer than a third of Gen-Z households own a corkscrew, according to a trends report by the British household products company Lakeland. Even simply trying a wine comes with a gatekeeper: Hard liquor is easy to sample at a bar or as single-shot nips; most wine requires a full-bottle commitment.

    A cadre of wineries has begun pushing the bounds of wine culture by ditching the fussy façade in favor of a sassy vibe and accessible language. Price matters, too (the sweet spot seems to be the $8 to $20 a bottle range), but not nearly so much as the message.

    It’s about using contemporary communication to pitch “something that’s been made for centuries,” said Charles Smith, founder of House of Smith, the company behind younger, shopper-friendly brands such as Kung Fu Girl Riesling and SEX Rosé. “My mantra is always to communicate the language of wine to everyone because not everyone speaks wine. The wine should be a reflection of the consumer who is going to buy it.”

    Can tie-ins to pop culture make wine more relatable?

    Bogle Family Wine Collection has leaned in with its Juggernaut Wines. Adorned with almost graphically violent labels showcasing alpha predators — a shark, a grizzly, an orca, a lion and some sort of particularly angry bird of prey — the bottles are a far cry from the placid villas and languorous ladies plastered across so many wines.

    The other side of it is getting those bottles into spaces not traditionally associated with wine, said Jessica LaBounty, the company’s marketing director. For two years, Juggernaut has announced “Adventure awaits” as it sponsored the grueling Tough Mudder races. They’ve also done placements at zoos that host nights where people can name dead rodents and insects after former partners and feed them to the animals. Cheers…?

    And this year, it’s Discovery network’s Shark Week. Juggernaut’s chardonnay label sports an especially snappish great white and “just the right amount of bite.”

    “The viewer base of Shark Week lines up really, really nicely with who we know our consumer to be,” LaBounty said. “It’s another way to meet them where they are already versus kind of asking them to come to us.”

    Learning to speak Gen Z is key

    The goal is to bridge a generational divide in which wine got lost. Younger drinkers don’t and won’t talk about wine the way older drinkers do. To point, there’s a clever social media meme about a Millennial marketing team pitching wine vs. a Gen-Z social media team. The Millennial effort goes on at length about terroir and full-bodied flavors. Gen-Z’s pitch? “it’s giving… yummy”.

    Vibe is everything for Bread & Butter Wines, with the tagline, “Don’t overthink it.” As in, pair their red blend with a candy charcuterie board. Or their pinot noir with a Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich. Want fries with that? Try their prosecco.

    “The No. 1 goal is to disrupt the shelf because it is so crowded,” said Caitlin Ward, brand and digital marketing director. “Sassiness is a way to do that.”

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    J.M. Hirsch is a longtime food writer who was food editor of The Associated Press for nearly a decade until 2016.


  • Louise Carrol

    [vc_single_image image=”1514″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1515″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][headerText widget_name=”Birthday and Anniversary Cakes Provided By Dairy Queen” level=”h3″ url=”” el_class=””]

    Happy Birthday to Louise Carrol!

    Birthday Cake winner 06/22/26

  • No maps, no insurance: Michigan floods expose lack of information, preparation in many rural areas


    ONAWAY, Mich. (AP) — Tom and Diane Peterman tried to buy flood insurance when they moved to their retirement home on the shores of Black Lake 14 years ago but were told it wasn’t available. John Solum was told he wasn’t in a flood zone when his family bought a 1940s-era cabin there.

    Then came this spring’s historic and devastating floods across northern Michigan — in some areas, for the first time anyone can remember — swamping homes, pushing dams to the brink of failure and washing out roadways. Dozens of counties were under a state of emergency.

    Black Lake was so high that floating ice broke apart decks and crashed through windows.

    “We’ve never seen anything like that. Never,” said Solum, who experienced flooding often when he lived in Houston. Knee-high floodwater forced them to tear out flooring, drywall, furniture, bedding and appliances.

    Across Michigan, thousands were left without financial protection after record April rains fell on top of record March snowfall. Worse, many had no idea they were at risk despite years of increasingly heavy precipitation.

    Their experience exposes vulnerabilities across the country, experts say, because flood plain maps don’t cover all areas. What’s more, the federal government’s mapping method is arguably outdated and does not account for actual risks as climate change increases the odds of more extreme weather.

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency develops and updates maps that determine who’s in a flood plain and must buy insurance, and to help communities plan. But it hasn’t developed maps in many less-populated areas, including some Michigan counties that experienced unprecedented flooding.

    Black Lake, for example, straddles two counties — Cheboygan, which has a 2012 FEMA flood plain map, and Presque Isle, where most areas have never been mapped. The longtime summer and retiree destination is ringed by small cabins and some larger homes.

    Another issue: FEMA’s maps are based on risks of rivers, streams and other waterways overflowing their banks. But they don’t account for flooding caused strictly from increasingly heavy rainfall that overwhelms stormwater infrastructure in urban areas and inundates rural towns where there’s nowhere for the water to go.

    First Street, a company that researches the financial implications of climate change, found more than twice the number of properties at significant flood risk nationwide after incorporating that rainfall data into its own models and by mapping the whole country, including smaller streams that FEMA does not.

    That includes four times more properties in Michigan.

    “I couldn’t believe it when we first started building our model how different we were from FEMA,” said Jeremy Porter, chief economist at First Street, who says federal maps are “missing a whole source of flooding.”

    FEMA uses that extra rainfall data to help set insurance rates, experts said. But it’s unclear whether it’s proceeding with an effort to incorporate it into flood plain mapping.

    The General Accounting Office, a federal watchdog agency, raised concerns five years ago that FEMA’s flood hazard maps didn’t reflect the best available climate science or heavy rainfall.

    FEMA declined an interview request, but said in a statement that 95% of the U.S. population lives in areas with maps, which are “snapshots in time.” It did not respond to questions about whether this year’s flooding adds urgency to mapping less-populated areas or whether it’s updating its mapping methods.

    Climate change sets the stage for devastating floods

    Michigan experienced “truly a monumental flood” that in many areas exceeded what is known as a 100-year flood, meaning it has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year, said Matthew Occhipinti, the state’s National Flood Insurance Program coordinator.

    But it wasn’t a fluke, experts said.

    A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture for longer periods, which can lead to heavy rain or snow when enough builds up. And this spring, an “extraordinarily warm” Gulf of Mexico set the stage for both snow and rain in the upper Midwest, said Richard Rood, a University of Michigan climate scientist.

    A massive March snowstorm dumped up to 2-4 feet (61-122 centimeters) across northern Michigan. Then April’s record rainfall created more runoff than waterways, dams and culverts could handle.

    “We call these storms historic; that is only true compared to the past,” said Rood, adding that Michigan and neighboring Wisconsin experienced their wettest March 1-April 15 period on record. “I think it is more appropriate to consider it typical of the climate of the future.”

    That’s why it’s important to update flood maps and for communities to be prepared, experts said.

    “You should never be lulled into complacency that, ‘Oh geez we just had the big flood so we’re good for another 100 years or another 500 years,’” said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. “Mother Nature does not obey statistical averages.”

    FEMA mapping progress is slow in rural areas

    FEMA has been working to update existing flood plain maps — some that were decades old — but has made little progress creating new ones in rural areas where development could occur, despite a 2012 congressional mandate, Berginnis said.

    The agency has historically prioritized places with the greatest population and risk, which makes sense due to budget constraints, Berginnis said, but also leaves about two-thirds of the country’s streams, rivers and coastlines unmapped. Some of those areas are unpopulated federal land that likely won’t be mapped.

    His organization estimates it would cost $4 billion to $12 billion to fully map the country, but FEMA has never had the funding to do so, he said.

    Flood plain managers worry the agency could fall even further behind due to significant staffing losses under the Trump administration.

    FEMA lost close to 20% of its total workforce in 2025, according to a General Accounting Office report. That includes about 25% of its permanent and most senior staff, said Christopher Currie, who audits FEMA for the GAO.

    “We’re very concerned,” said Currie, adding that FEMA was chronically understaffed even before Trump’s second term. Now it would have to divert resources from many programs, including mapping, to respond to multiple disasters.

    Some communities don’t understand their risks

    Getting accurate flood-risk information to communities is a challenge even beyond flood plain mapping.

    Communities must participate in the National Flood Insurance Program before homeowners can buy policies underwritten by FEMA and sold by private companies. But many — including several hundred in Michigan, Occhipinti said — have never joined.

    Communities can participate without a map. But experts say those that haven’t might never have experienced damaging floods or don’t understand the insurance program.

    They also might not realize they have an elevated risk if they rely on FEMA’s National Risk Index, a separate tool from mapping. The index gives one score for a community’s overall risk of any type of natural disaster, and assumes there are no flood risks if the community doesn’t have a flood plain map, said Berginnis.

    That means a community with a low score might actually have elevated flood risks, he said, which “gives people the absolute wrong sense of security.”

    But even program participation doesn’t guarantee homeowners get accurate information.

    Diane Peterman, who evacuated as her crawlspace filled with floodwater, said she tried buying insurance three times but was told she couldn’t, even though her township participates in the National Flood Insurance Program.

    “They said, ‘You’re not in a flood zone’ and I said, ‘But I live on a lake,’” said Peterman, who later learned that her neighbor had insurance.

    In Michigan, an average policy costs about $1,000 for $250,000 in coverage, though that rate can vary widely based on factors such as home value and location, Occhipinti said. Some companies will sell private flood insurance, though it’s rare, he said.

    Berginnis said homeowners and communities should seek information beyond what FEMA provides.

    “FEMA flood maps should always be the beginning of the journey and not the end,” he said. “Maybe states and communities need to step up and lead a little bit more.”

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.


  • Jodi’s Anxiety and How She’s Facing It – AFTER THE SHOW PODCAST 6/22

    Jodi opens up about the wave of anxiety that’s been hitting her out of nowhere ever since her mom’s hospital stay, even though her mom is home and healing. She shares the 3-3-3 grounding rule she just discovered – three things you can see, hear, and move – and the gang compares it to another senses trick. A warm, honest conversation about self-talk, accepting the moment, and learning to manage stress without medication.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  • America250 Scholarships Announced; Louisiana Runoff, Blood Shortage and Avoyles Flooding Make News


    Mississippi State Treasurer David McRae has announced the launch of a scholarship giveaway through the Mississippi Affordable College Savings Program in recognition of America’s 250th birthday. Ten students will receive $250 maximum scholarships. Entries are open through July 3, and students can register at treasury.ms.gov/America250.

    Early voting has ended in Louisiana, leaving this Saturday as the final opportunity for voters to participate in the U.S. Senate runoffs. A recent poll conducted ahead of the Republican runoff showed Julia Letlow leading John Fleming by 15 points. However, a newer poll commissioned by the Letlow campaign showed her trailing Fleming. LSU political science professor Robert Hogan said the conflicting results indicate the race is highly competitive and noted that both campaigns continue to raise significant funds. Hogan also pointed to a potential misstep by the Fleming campaign involving an AI-generated commercial depicting Letlow discussing her late husband.

    A shortage of donated blood is highlighting the need for more volunteers as thousands of Mississippians with sickle cell disease rely on regular transfusions. The Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation is using World Sickle Cell Awareness Day to educate communities about the disease and encourage increased blood donations. Health leaders are urging more residents to donate to help ensure adequate blood supplies for patients with sickle cell and other disorders.

    Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry visited Avoyles Parish to survey flooding in the area. He described large sections of the parish as submerged and said the scenes were striking. A state of emergency has been declared in Avoyles Parish and five additional parishes, and efforts are underway to secure a federal disaster declaration. Landry emphasized the importance of residents documenting their damage at damage.la.gov, noting that many affected households lack flood insurance.

    The Mississippi River in the Natchez Valley is at 37 feet and rising.

    News, sports, and weather are available anytime at listenupyall.com.

  • Watch Duty, the fire tracking app used by millions, expands to help monitor dangerous floods


    When a fire broke out a few miles from his Altadena, California, home the evening of Jan. 7, 2025, Matt Blea and his family needed to make a crucial decision: Should they stay home, or evacuate?

    A friend who did mountain rescue told Blea to download a free app called Watch Duty. On the app, he could see the fire’s perimeter, track evacuation orders and read updates about the emergency response. “It influenced me to leave the home sooner than later,” said Blea, who left with his wife and son that evening, before the Eaton Fire destroyed their home.

    Blea was one of more than 2.5 million people who used Watch Duty to track fires burning across Los Angeles County that week. The information was collected, vetted and disseminated by about two dozen Watch Duty staff and over 100 volunteers who monitored emergency radio traffic, aircraft reports and local agency communications.

    The service proved vital, said David Hertz, a Malibu resident and captain of his community’s fire brigade, especially when some areas received little-to-no warning about the Eaton and Palisades fires that killed 31 people. “It’s like a democratization of data that empowers people.”

    This month, Watch Duty began helping people track another deadly and destructive climate hazard: flooding.

    The expansion comes as peak flash flood season begins in the U.S. and nearly one year after last July’s deadly Texas floods that killed more than 130 people, prompting outcry over why Texas Hill Country residents and visitors didn’t receive better communication about the impending danger.

    “This is painful that this keeps happening,” said John Mills, CEO and co-founder of the donor-supported nonprofit behind the app. “We’re not spreading enough information fast enough on as many channels as humanly possible.”

    Mills built the app after his own close calls

    Mills founded Watch Duty in 2021 after not receiving official alerts or evacuation instructions when a fire burned near his Northern California home.

    It’s a problem seen in many recent disasters. While the U.S. has systems for sending alerts by text, radio, and other means, the process to issue a specific warning or evacuation order can get tangled in bureaucracy and often depends on humans making difficult decisions under pressure.

    Often the information people need to understand their risk is out there, Mills said, but it is hard to find and use. “The systems are really struggling to meet people where they are.”

    On fire days, Mills found himself relying on volunteer radio operators who monitored scanners during emergencies and posted updates on social media. The posts helped, but social media had downsides — including how misinformation and unrelated content could drown out life-or-death updates.

    A software engineer and entrepreneur, Mills recruited some of those volunteers and fellow engineers to build an answer. He made Watch Duty a nonprofit, which has helped build trust with its more than 20 million users. It received nearly $6 million in grants and donations in 2025.

    Watch Duty puts emergency information in one place

    Watch Duty now has about 300 volunteer “reporters” who collate and vet information from radio scanners, cameras, satellites, user-generated content and public announcements. Information is available in five languages and pushed out through maps, text feeds, and push notifications that can sound even when phones are silenced.

    “You’re not going to have to go to multiple other entities, to the weather service, emergency management website, county website,” said Watch Duty meteorologist Pete Curran. “It’s in one place, in plain language, and it’s going to wake you up if you’re asleep.”

    Watch Duty can sometimes push out information faster than local agencies in part because its reporters have only one role to fill, said Curran, a retired firefighter. “Our only responsibility is to watch and listen. We’re not in charge of the incident.”

    The nonprofit took on flooding next because of its widespread impact. “We are seeing crazy rainfall in places that it’s not normal for them,” said Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, U.S. Fire Administrator under President Joe Biden and longtime data scientist who is now a Watch Duty board member. “Maybe it’s never happened before, but it’s happening now, so you need to be aware.”

    The app pulls weather modeling and other data from the National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geologic Survey. Users can view NWS flood warnings and watches, river gauge levels, and notices of possible dam or levee failures.

    Users can also better understand their risk ahead of time. They can see whether they’re in a FEMA-designated flood area, or what levels on a river gauge would indicate danger, and customize notifications to be alerted if a gauge reached a certain height.

    Preparation and redundancy enhance safety

    Despite Watch Duty’s explosive growth, a phone app can’t solve all the challenges with informing the public during emergencies.

    “I love seeing products like this come out, but one thing we know to be true in the Texas floods, is a warning is only as good as the knowledge to do something about it,” said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers.

    The ASFPM recommends knowing how to reach an evacuation zone and not just having an emergency plan, but practicing it. “One of the massive failures is not knowing what to do,” said Berginnis.

    The national infrastructure for monitoring weather and alerting the public is also at risk from past and proposed funding cuts to federal agencies and local emergency warning systems. “At the end of the day, if you want eyes and ears out there, you’ve got to pay for it,” said Berginnis.

    Mills stressed Watch Duty is not meant to replace the work of weather and emergency agencies. “We need National Weather Service, we need fire service, we need all this infrastructure to operate.” He said users should still enroll in their local alerting system.

    And of course, a phone app is only helpful to those who download it, and who have cell coverage to use it.

    “You have to have redundancy,” said Berginnis, adding that an inexpensive NOAA weather radio can fill in when other systems fail. “Sometimes we get so focused on tech, we forget the easy stuff.”

    ———

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.


  • PWHL seeks to sustain momentum of fast-tracked growth by adding first investors: Ilitch, Tanenbaum


    The PWHL is taking on two prominent names in North American sports as its first two investors in reaching a major milestone in the privately-backed league’s fast-rising trajectory, and representing yet another sign of women’s hockey’s promising future.

    Coming on board as strategic partners are the Detroit-based Ilitch Companies, and the Larry Tanenbaum-backed Toronto-based Kilmer Sports Ventures, the league announced Monday.

    The two multi-sports-team-owning groups bring a wealth of financial backing, business connections and influence to a 12-team league that’s doubled in size since being established in June of 2023.

    “This is the clearest signal of validation to the marketplace, to the players, to other owners, to media companies that we are cementing our reputation as one of the fastest-growing sports properties in the world,” PWHL advisory board member Stan Kasten told The Associated Press.

    “These are serious, long-time experienced sports investors, and they are telling the world what they think about us,” he added “And that says much more than just them writing a check.”

    With the additions, the PWHL’s existing centralized structure will remain in place, headed by founder and primary financial backers Mark and Kimbra Walter. The Walters, together with the PWHL’s advisory board, will continue overseeing operations, with the new partners providing expertise, relationships and perspective, the league said.

    “Kimbra and I are incredibly proud of what the PWHL has accomplished in a short time, and are excited about what it can achieve moving forward,” said Walter, who’s holdings include baseball’s Dodgers and the NBA Lakers.

    Post-Olympic boost continues

    Kasten said adding investors is well ahead of schedule, and deemed timely entering Season 4 to support the momentum the PWHL gained coming out of the Milan Cortina Games.

    The league registered growth in nearly every metric last season, with U.S. numbers spiking further following the Hilary Knight-led Team USA’s gold-medal victory in February. The league also expanded its North American footprint last month by adding teams in Detroit, Las Vegas, San Jose and Hamilton, Ontario.

    “I want to hear the case for going slower, but I can’t imagine it,” Kasten said. “The reception of fans, of sponsors and other willing partners has allowed us to go faster.”

    The Ilitch family’s holdings include the NHL Red Wings and baseball’s Tigers. The Ilitch’s influence was apparent last week, with a wide range of company employees involved in Detroit hosting the PWHL’s awards and draft.

    “The PWHL’s rise has been one of the most compelling stories in professional sports, and we are proud to be part of that story,” said company CEO Chris Ilitch. “Investing in the PWHL means an opportunity to broaden the game’s reach, connect with new fans, and create pathways for athletes for generations to come.”

    Tanenbaum is chairman emeritus and maintains a personal stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, whose properties include the NHL Maple Leafs and NBA’s Raptors. Meantime, Kilmer Sports owns the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo and France’s AS Saint-Etienne soccer team.

    “What Mark Walter and PWHL senior leadership have built so quickly is incredible, and we’re honored to be part of this league and everything it stands for,” Tanenbaum said.

    Salaries, for now, won’t increase

    The financial injection will not immediately translate into pay raises for players, because the PWHL has yet to turn a profit on the hundreds of millions of dollars Walter has already invested, Kasten said.

    “When we are making money, that would be a great day for me and for the players,” he said. “We’re not there yet. I hope this gets us closer.”

    The PWHL became the first professional women’s league to open with a collective bargaining agreement in place, and running through 2031. Last season, 10 of 194 players had salaries topping $100,000, with the minimum at just over $37,000, according to the PWHL Players Association.

    The PWHL has grown from a six-team league that launched on Jan. 1, 2024, with Toronto hosting the inaugural game at the 2,500-seat Mattamy Athletic Centre. Within five months, Toronto had relocated to its current home, the 8,500-plus seat Coca-Cola Coliseum — and after enjoying a regular-season game sellout at the Maple Leafs’ 19,200-capacity home.

    Last season’s average attendance of 9,304 represented a 28% jump over 2024-25. The league also grew its corporate partnership base to 81, up from just over 50 a year earlier.

    Still seeking U.S. broadcast partner

    With 12 teams, the league is better positioned to attract a U.S. national broadcast partner. Last season, Scripps Sports aired numerous games, including the Walter Cup Finals, on ION, which reaches 126 million American households.

    The PWHL is also poised to improve its existing broadcast deals in Canada once its current contracts expire after next season. One possibility is enhancing its agreement with CBC, with the national broadcaster ending its lengthy history of airing NHL games.

    Kasten would only say, “stay tuned.”

    “We didn’t know what we had,” he added, reflecting on the PWHL’s launch.

    “We didn’t have venues. We didn’t have cities. We didn’t have logos,” Kasten said. “We felt deeply that if we provided the environment for the greatest women’s hockey players in the world to do what they do, that there would be a market for them. And that has been demonstrated in countless ways over and over.”

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    AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey


  • Germany plans to take 40% in Leopard tank maker KNDS, joining France as stakeholder


    BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Monday that it intends to take a 40% stake in defense contractor KNDS, whose products include Leopard and Leclerc tanks, as it tries to strengthen European production along with NATO ally France.

    The French state already has a 50% stake in KNDS, which was formed in 2015 with the merger of Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter. The other half is held by the German family behind Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

    Headquartered in Amsterdam, KNDS had 4.4 billion euros ($5 billion) in revenue last year and more than 11,000 employees.

    European countries are moving to ramp up their defense spending and production and boost their military ranks as they contend with Russia’s war in Ukraine and concerns about the United States’ unpredictability.

    The German government said its planned stake “will secure long-term influence on a company that is strategically significant for European security and defense capability.” It added in a statement that “national industrial value creation, as well as technological sovereignty and the protection of security interests and key technologies in Germany” also will be strengthened.

    A separate joint statement said that the German and French governments have reached an agreement on the strategy and governance of KNDS, “of which they intend to become joint shareholders through transactions aiming at equal shareholding levels for both countries.”

    It didn’t specify when that will happen or what level the countries’ stakes will ultimately settle at, but said the accord paves the way for a possible IPO of KNDS in the near future.

    The two governments said their agreement “reflects the shared determination of France and Germany to strengthen Europe’s industrial and defense capabilities, support their armed forces, and strengthen European sovereignty over the long term.”

    Beside the tanks, KNDS’ products also include Puma infantry fighting vehicles and Boxer and Dingo armored personnel carriers.